May 29, 2004 on 10:12 am | In éX-Driver | Comments Off on éX-Driver – episodes 4 to 6

And so éX-Driver comes to a close and the seiyuu are upset.

Rei, an éX-Rider (see, she rides a motorcycle) drops by in the fourth episode. Apparently she used to work with this division, but she left to pursue the opportunity to ride freely. Oh, how she laments being perfect. Then she reveals that she’s one of those girls with no sense of modesty and does all of these perverted things with Soichi which end with bloody noses. This episode would have been better if the fan service was nicer. Rei’s cleavage wasn’t really cleavage at all! But Soichi’s awkwardness was funny and Lisa’s jealousy was just plain weird.
The organisation of this future is called into question when it is revealed that there was no course of action in case two cars went out of control simultaneously.

Then the final two episodes are, as expected, the “story”. A man who knew Chief Munakata has been monitoring the éX-Drivers and, together with his merry band of cosplayers (who look suspiciously like Alex from A Clockwork Orange and a redheaded version of Hellsing‘s Arucard), takes them on with their dirty driving tactics. The desperation! The sheer human drama!
It’s pretty good drama, even if it isn’t the most special. It’s nice to see the characters acting together and Soichi and Lisa coming to some sort of agreement. There’s a cool action sequence which is akin to a samurai sword fight (that is, the “run you through” face off) between cars. However, there’s a sequence which is about five minutes of driving action with no dialogue. For those who aren’t fiercely interested in cars, it’s too easy to tune out at this point.
Also there’s a character whose involvement is something like this.
“I have to fix the computer system!”
“Were you anywhere in the first three episodes?”
“… I can’t remember.”

Still, éX-Driver was a nice production which was impressively pulled off with no CG, which is surprising for something from 2000. It’s enjoyable, and it’s a stern warning against designing cars that are literally uncontrollable.
Car otaku, rejoice! That which can only be attained by product placement is ripe for the taking in éX-Driver!